Paywall Explainer

Some of you may have noticed a paywall for some content over the past few weeks. We reluctantly ran a test of charging a nominal fee for our old content and another one for asking those with ad-blockers to turn them off or pay a nominal fee (we hope to introduce tiered pricing shortly), to our wild surprise, the results of the tests were incredible and we have dozens of subscribers just a few weeks after the test.

We currently have no plan to charge for new content (that could change and I do not want to make an ironclad promise, but for now, it is not even a remote possibility) but most (not all) content older than 30 days will cost a small fee. There is a metered model, so you may be able to view some but not all articles. The rules for the meter are complex, so basically, most old content will be paywall-ed. Although we are profitable without any paywalls, despite much competition, we need more money to pay good wages, support our growth and (unfortunately) cover increasing legal costs due to unethical and immoral legal trolls, and we want to diversify our business model further.

New features will be introduced to the paywall, which will be customized further in the coming months, but below are the main points.

Readers accessing (most) old content will be able to view several articles, after which point they will be asked to pay a few dollars a month to gain access to our archives.

Users with adblockers will be asked to white-list us or pay a small fee

Similar to above but even better, we plan to implement a 100% ad-free version of the site for readers who pay a small fee

Those who work in journalism or education or at non-profits are welcome to receive a free pass. Just contact us at info@valuewalk.com with subject line “MediaPass” and we will set you up asap.

We offer discounts for multiple users at institutions – please contact info@valuewalk.com for further discounted rates

NOTE: For any billing related questions you MUST contact mediapass – ValueWalk has no role whatsoever in any payment information or processing – we do not even know names of subscribers. All payment questions should be directed to subscriber@mediapass.com(866) 787-7665

For customer support contact Hayley Cameron hayley@mediapass.com, and/or Amir Adraneda amir@mediapass.com or at the number above during regular business hours.

Readers who still have questions about the paywall can contact us at info@valuewalk.com or check out MediaPass FAQ.

As always, readers are welcome to donate, although if you are trying to choose between donating to a good charity and ValueWalk, we obviously insist you pick the former! That said, we look forward to using this extra money to keep our progress going and provide more valuable journalism. I hope to write a post on that topic of what the goal of financial journalism should be, so stay tuned.